19 Fun facts about HTTYD (gif-fest OC)

1 / 20

Toothless is actually the first character to be seen in the movie. His silhouette is seen flying through the star-filled night sky during the DreamWorks intro.

2 / 20

In the book, Toothless is a little iguana sized dragon much like the Terrible Terror. The directors changed this as they wanted a dragon Hiccup would be able to climb on to and that would have a design helping it emote better.

3 / 20

The sounds Toothless produces along with his behavior and personality were inspired by cats, dogs, and horses.

4 / 20

Toothless’s design resembles Stitch’s from the Lilo and Stitch movie. This can be attributed to the fact that both directors for HTTYD also directed Lilo and Stitch.

5 / 20

At one time, one of Toothless’s animator stuck a ball of duct-tape on his own cat’s tail for reference which ended up perfect for this shot.
(actual footage of his cat he used)

6 / 20

Animators had to attend “flight school” during production. It is a legitimate program in which they would study flight physics and movements of different creatures for realism. After graduation, they each even received a diploma.

7 / 20

Throughout the film, Hiccup vehemently declares he can’t kill dragons while the other Vikings boast about all the dragons they've killed. Ironically, Hiccup is the only Viking we actually see kill a dragon in the whole movie.

8 / 20

HTTYD features lots for beards and fur. Not only are beards tough to rig but designing them is also tricky. Stoick’s beard alone took months to make.

9 / 20

The sounds the Terrible Terrors make are actually based upon a Chihuahua named Paco from Cottage Grove, Oregon. A sound designer at Skywalker Sound, contacted his owners after seeing a video of Paco on the internet. Paco was paid 100$ for his voice work.

10 / 20

John Powell’s amazing score for the movie was nominated for an Academy Award. The song "Romantic Flight" was actually played during this year’s Oscars, introducing Jamie Foxx and Jessica Biel on the stage to present the Best Original Score category.
Links to the OST can be found at this post’s 20th image.